§ 284A.5 — Beginning administrator mentoring and induction program

Iowa § 284A.5

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title VII: EDUCATION, HISTORY, AND CULTURE
• Ch. 284A: ADMINISTRATOR QUALITY PROGRAM

Text

1. A beginning administrator mentoring and induction program is created to promote
excellence in school leadership, improve classroom instruction, enhance student
achievement, build a supportive environment within school districts, increase the retention
of promising school leaders, and promote the personal and professional well-being of
administrators.
2. Thedepartment,incollaborationwithothereducationalpartners,shalldevelopamodel
beginning administrator mentoring and induction program for all beginning administrators.
3. Each school board shall establish an administrator mentoring program for all
beginning administrators. The school board may adopt the model program developed by
the department pursuant to subsection 2. Each school board’s beginning administrator
mentoring and induction program shall, at a minimum, provide for one year of programming
to support the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7,
subsection 27, and beginning administrators’ professional and personal needs. Each school
board shall develop and implement a beginning administrator mentoring and induction
plan. The plan shall describe the mentor selection process, describe supports for beginning
administrators, describe program organizational and collaborative structures, provide a
budget, provide for sustainability of the program, and provide for program evaluation. The
school board employing an administrator shall determine the conditions and requirements
of an administrator participating in a program established pursuant to this section.
4. Abeginningadministratorshallbeinformedbytheschooldistrictortheareaeducation
agency, prior to the beginning administrator’s participation in a mentoring and induction
program, of the criteria upon which the administrator will be evaluated and of the evaluation
process utilized by the school district or area education agency.
5. By the end of a beginning administrator’s first year of employment, the beginning
administrator may be comprehensively evaluated to determine if the administrator meets
expectations to move to a professional administrator license, where appropriate. The school
district or area education agency that employs a beginning administrator shall recommend
the beginning administrator for a professional administrator license, where appropriate,
if the beginning administrator is determined through a comprehensive evaluation to
3 ADMINISTRATOR QUALITY PROGRAM, §284A.7
demonstrate competence in the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant
to section 256.7, subsection 27. A school district or area education agency may allow a
beginning administrator a second year to demonstrate competence in the Iowa standards
for school administrators if, after conducting a comprehensive evaluation, the school
district or area education agency determines that the administrator is likely to successfully
demonstrate competence in the Iowa standards for school administrators by the end of the
second year. Upon notification by the school district or area education agency, the board of
educational examiners shall grant a beginning administrator who has been allowed a second
year to demonstrate competence a one-year extension of the beginning administrator’s
initial license. An administrator granted a second year to demonstrate competence shall
undergo a comprehensive evaluation at the end of the second year.